Considering increasing our Firewood prices

[arboriculturist]

10 hours ago, rovers90 said:

I went from £90 to £100 last November and lost one customer (who I was actually happy to loose!!).

 

But with rising costs, etc I am considering increasing to £110 from 1 Sept. That is for a loose cubic metre load, hardwood, naturally seasoned.

We have done the same and it's made no difference.

Just look at how our overheads have risen in the last 12 months, fuel, electricity, oil, Roundwood - everything's gone up as do staff wages.

You should be offering 50/50 as well - the won't be any Hardwood left to sell in a minute !

 

[Bob_z_l]

Blimey! £100

 

Still reeling at £100 a load.
Glad the stuff I but is for me and mine. I'd find it hard to buy in at that price.

 

 

 

[arboriculturist]

If you sell a top quality consistent product - perfectly split Firewood that stacks nicely you need to retail at a price that allows you to supply just that. 

 

Don't try to compete with those who sell irregular Arb Arisings as they are selling a completely different product.

 

Always advertise your prices and you will thin out those who are basing their decision to buy on price.

 

As roundwood becomes scarcer the price will rise and there will be far less suppliers in the business, let alone new startups.

 

The days of phoning up for a load of roundwood and expecting a delivery 2 or 3 weeks later are unfortunately for many - long gone

 

 

[Big J]

There is a good reason I brought 23 cubic metres with me from Scotland when we moved down. Firewood prices are only going to go up with the increasing cost of the raw material. Chipwood in southern Scotland is doing a minimum of £42 at roadside, so you're not going to get that into the yard for less than £50. That's almost £20 more than just 18 months ago. 

 

I don't envy you guys selling firewood now. It will be difficult to get your customers to understand the magnitude of the price rises for the raw materials. The funny thing is that the customers are paying for it twice over as they are also subsidising the big biomass companies (who are driving the demand, and therefor the rise in prices) who are being paid by the government, who we are funding with our taxes! 

 

Madness!

[donnk]

i would definitely install GS heat up or if no land for the coils Air source if my options were oil or wood. It really is a no brainer.

[sandspider]

Is GS really that good? We have oil and wood, and do have a bit of land available. Guessing install costs are fairly high? Is there a FIT or similar to encourage uptake of GS heating?

[Justme]

If you dont loose 10% of your customers when you put prices up, you dint put them up enough.

 

More money from less work.

[Woodworks]

Debating putting our prices up but in reality we have not experienced many price rises in recent years. When we started we we were paying around 55 a cube delivered in and now around 60. Thats £2.50 to add to a cube of logs. Petrol for the processor has gone up down and now back up again. I guess we should probably be looking at another fiver but always scared of driving customers away when some of the competition are already cheaper than us. 

[Steve Bullman]

On 02/08/2018 at 08:25, arboriculturist said:

You should be offering 50/50 as well - the won't be any Hardwood left to sell in a minute !

They've been saying that for several years.  It still keeps coming in though.  You are probably still right mind

[Steve Bullman]

6 minutes ago, Woodworks said:

Debating putting our prices up but in reality we have not experienced many price rises in recent years. When we started we we were paying around 55 a cube delivered in and now around 60. Thats £2.50 to add to a cube of logs. Petrol for the processor has gone up down and now back up again. I guess we should probably be looking at another fiver but always scared of driving customers away when some of the competition are already cheaper than us. 

You should be more scared of earning less profit